DHAKA: Two Bangladeshi teenagers have died taking selfies in raging floodwaters, officials said Thursday, as the death toll from fresh monsoon downpours reached 56 with nearly five million affected.
Police said the 15-year-old boys were snapping selfies at a flooded road in the northern town of Melandah on Wednesday when they were swept away by powerful currents.
“With the school shut down due to floods, and the road underwater, they thought it was good idea to take selfies on the flooded road,” said Mohan Talukder, the headmaster of Umir Uddin School where the boys attended.
“Unfortunately huge currents washed both of them into a roadside flood-plain. Several villagers tried to save them, but one of them was also washed away by floodwaters.”
Local police chief Mazharul Karim told AFP their bodies were recovered by divers after a day-long search.
Nearly half of Bangladesh is affected by the floods but the government’s weather agency has warned the worst could be yet to come, with two major rivers at bursting point.
“The flood situation in the country’s central region could worsen in the next few days,” said Sazzad Hossain, head of the Flood Forecasting and Warning Center.
Renewed flooding has killed 56 people since Saturday, with 4.5 million directly affected, Bangladesh’s disaster management department said.
Bangladesh’s health department said coupled with those killed in separate flooding in July, at least 107 people had perished amid monsoon downpours.
The floods have destroyed nearly 200,000 houses and wiped out crops on nearly 580,000 hectares (1.4 million acres) of land, officials said.
The government has opened close to 1,500 shelters where food and supplies are available, but those in hard-hit areas have complained that aid had not yet reached their villages.
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Two Bangladeshis die taking flood selfies as crisis worsens
Two Bangladeshis die taking flood selfies as crisis worsens
French police raid Arab World Institute in Paris as Epstein fallout widens
PARIS: French police searched the Arab World Institute in Paris on Monday as part of a probe into its former head, ex-culture minister Jack Lang, and his links to late convicted US sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, prosecutors said.
France’s National Financial Prosecutor (PNF) said in a statement that the Arab World Institute was among several locations being raided.
Prosecutors this month opened a preliminary investigation of Lang and his daughter Caroline on suspicion of tax fraud following the release of documents on Epstein in the US
Lang, who was culture minister under late Socialist president Francois Mitterrand, resigned this month from the Arab World Institute, which he had led since 2013.
He has said he was unaware of Epstein’s crimes despite corresponding with him between 2012 and 2019, 11 years after the financier was convicted of soliciting prostitution from an underage girl. Epstein died in prison by suicide in 2019.
The Institute, which is overseen by France’s foreign ministry, said it could not immediately comment on the police action.
Both Jack and Caroline Lang have repeatedly denied any wrongdoing and receiving financial benefits from Epstein. Their lawyer Laurent Merlet told French broadcaster BFMTV this month that “there was no movement of funds.”
Fallout from the release of millions of new documents related to Epstein has rippled through Europe.
On Saturday, Paris prosecutors set up a dedicated team to review the files, coordinating with the financial prosecutor and national police.
The office said it was analizing several potential cases stemming from the Epstein files.
One concerns French diplomat Fabrice Aidan, alleged to have transferred United Nations documents to Epstein.
Aidan, who worked at the UN from July 2006 to April 2013, has rejected the accusations through his lawyer.
France’s National Financial Prosecutor (PNF) said in a statement that the Arab World Institute was among several locations being raided.
Prosecutors this month opened a preliminary investigation of Lang and his daughter Caroline on suspicion of tax fraud following the release of documents on Epstein in the US
Lang, who was culture minister under late Socialist president Francois Mitterrand, resigned this month from the Arab World Institute, which he had led since 2013.
He has said he was unaware of Epstein’s crimes despite corresponding with him between 2012 and 2019, 11 years after the financier was convicted of soliciting prostitution from an underage girl. Epstein died in prison by suicide in 2019.
The Institute, which is overseen by France’s foreign ministry, said it could not immediately comment on the police action.
Both Jack and Caroline Lang have repeatedly denied any wrongdoing and receiving financial benefits from Epstein. Their lawyer Laurent Merlet told French broadcaster BFMTV this month that “there was no movement of funds.”
Fallout from the release of millions of new documents related to Epstein has rippled through Europe.
On Saturday, Paris prosecutors set up a dedicated team to review the files, coordinating with the financial prosecutor and national police.
The office said it was analizing several potential cases stemming from the Epstein files.
One concerns French diplomat Fabrice Aidan, alleged to have transferred United Nations documents to Epstein.
Aidan, who worked at the UN from July 2006 to April 2013, has rejected the accusations through his lawyer.
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